Street roots., April 15, 2011, Page 14, Image 14

street roots
14
April 15, 2011
Police see- the worst, by design, but kindness abounds
usiness and home owners often call
which was still ongoing. In addition to the
me to complain about homeless
garbage and feces, she was also worried that
people on and around their property,
he might retaliate when deputies issued him
but the one that I received a few weeks ago
an eviction notice.
was a little
Though not the first homeless-person-
unusual.
overstays-his-welcome call I’d received, this
A person firing seemed a little extreme. My jaded, devil cop
Si 11®«» 1
in the caller’s
was yelling in my ear that this was a
problem completely of the woman’s own
1B1L1J1BS * tool s^ed cut­
back had begun
creation, and now she wants me to fix it for
Robert Pickett
leaving trash and
her.
feces around her
At the same time my patient, angel cop
property and
was whispering sweetly in my other ear that
scaring her
helping people out of their own holes is a
neighbors. She wanted to know what I could large part of policing. And even more
do to help her. Most people would be quick
importantly, the kindness and generosity to
to act if they discovered someone living in
strangers that this couple had shown to a
their outbuilding, but by the way she spoke,
needy man is vitally important to the health
it sounded as if this person had been there
of our entire community, even if it works out
a while. I dug a little deeper.
poorly in some individual instances.
It turned out the man, whose name she
The important role kindness and love play
didn’t know, had been living in the tool shed in society can be easy to miss as an officer. ,
since before she and her husband purchased
Imagine a warm summer evening,
the house, eight months ago. Since he
burgers on the grill, a chilled IPA in hand,
didn’t seem to have anywhere to go, they let chatting with good friends and neighbors
him stay there after they bought i t His
sitting in chairs on the freshly-cut lawn ...
behavior recently turned disruptive, but
the kids playing joyfully with puppies nearby
because he was there with permission and
... How many of us would think, “You know,
refused to leave willingly, she had to go
I should call 911 and invite a cop over to
through a lengthy civil eviction process,
share this with us.”
B
Robert Pickett has been
a Portland Police Officer
for eight years. He has
spent most o f that time
working in inner
Southeast Portland, first
as a patrol officer, and
more recently as a
Neighborhood Response
Team officer working on
neighborhood livability
issues.
None of us, of course. We call police
when there is a crisis. We call when we are
threatened or attacked, or someone has
stolen our stuff. Sometimes the suspects
and victims know each other. Often they do
n o t The police are needed when bad luck
strikes, and when hate, anger, greed,
desperation or selfishness disrupt our ability
to live together respectfully and peacefully.
Officers see society at our worst on a
daily basis. These sights embolden the jaded
devil cop who yells a sarcastic reply to the
woman asking for help out of her hole.
They can also obscure the tens of
thousands of acts of kindness conducted
among Portlanders that police are never
called about, including who-knows-how-many
folks providing a bed, a couch, or even a
shed to friends, and strangers, in need of a
roof.
Acts without which I suspect I’d have
hundreds of times the number of calls to
answer.
Following the angel cop’s whispered
instructions, I discussed with the woman
various solutions to her problem, as well as
alternative ways she might help homeless
folks in the future.
And I thanked her for her kindness to a
stranger.
Welcome to Portland — the Portland of North America
BY MARG AUX MENNESSON
bicycling as a recreational activity in the
United States might account for our
ortland is the most successful North
resistance to using a bike to get to work,
American city at implementing
school, or other utilitarian trip s.,
policies to promote bicycling,
Transportation advocates and recreational
according to a new study just published by bicyclists operated in twodifferent circles.
researchers at Rutgers University and
Now, the economic benefits of
Virginia Tech.
recreational bicycling — such as industry
The authors,
growth, tourism, and job-creation — are
W P n l «WBlPW
John Pucher and
some of the strongest reasons in the
M X X X
t > i v " d
ui
Ralph Buehler,
advocate’s toolkit for making the case for
compared nine
bicycling. In Portland, trail advocates and
North American
Bicycle
racing organizations work together with
cities: Portland,
transportation advocates to promote a
Transportation.
Chicago, New
vision of safe, active communities with
Alliance
York,
streets connecting to parks and other
Minneapolis,
recreational opportunities.
Toronto,
But even though evidence shows we’re
Montreal, San Francisco, Washington, and
making progress when it comes to
Vancouver. They concluded that “the
transforming streets and changing
success of Portland is important because it
behaviors, it doesn’t mean it’s getting
shows that even car-dependent American
easief. It wasn’t easy when it happened in
cities can greatly increase cycling by
Europe, either. When, in the 1970s, their
implementing the right package of
governments began taking action to reverse
infrastructure, programs, and policies.”
decades of increasing automobile dominance
The results are significant because for
through a mix of incentives and
decades, people have been arguing that
disincentives, policy, investments,
bicycling just won’t work in the tfS like it
infrastructure and education, they faced
does in Europe and South America thanks
sharp resistance from citizens.
to different land use patterns and the
While Portland and the other nine cities
cultural significance of the automobile. The
are compared to “bicycle islands” in an auto-
argument is surfacing now in New York City, dominated landscape, the metaphor is a bit
where a backlash against bicycling is being
misleading. First, none of the cities is
led by a group that claims, “(New York) will
making decisions in a bubble. Spending and
never be Amsterdam, never be Copenhagen
policy decisions are greatly influenced by
... we are never going to be Portland.”
state and federal priorities. Second, we are
Indeed, New York will never be anything
still struggling to make bicycling and
but New York. But that doesn’t mean
walking safe and accessible across diverse
bicycles will never fit in New York. In fact,
communities and populations within the
the “bike-fication” of New York, Portland,
city.
and other US cities is probably inevitable.
As the report points out, in each of the
But the Portland story shows that US cities
nine cities bicycle ridership is much higher
can shift the transportation paradigm
within older, gentrifying neighborhoods
without losing their identity. We can learn
closer to thé city center than in outlying
from the successes and challenges of other
neighborhoods. The city of Portland has a
cities, but we don’t have to become those
bicycle mode split of 5.8 percent compared
cities.
with just 2.4 percent in the Metro region. >
In fact, U.S. cities are pioneering a new
This points to areas where we should focus
kind of bicycle community already. For
investments now to keep building on
example, Portland is deconstructing the
existing support within the community.
boundaries that used to be drawn between
• Land use, jobs, and housing. As Rob
recreational bicycling and bicycling for
Sadowsky pointed out in the previous
transportation. Not long ago, researchers
Healthy Streetbeat column our region has a
even suggested that the perception of
mismatch when it comes to jobs and
C O N T R IB U T IN G W R IT E R :
P
Healthy Streetbeat is a
monthly column for
Street Roots written by
the Bicycle
Transportation
Alliance (BTA). Our
contributors are Rob,
Sadowsky, executive
director, and Margaux
Mennesson,
communications
director.
housing, meaning that employment
opportunities are not always within easy
reach of where we live. In some
neighborhoods, even basic services like
grocery stores and health care might not be
located within walking or biking distance “**
(particularly for those with physical
disabilities).
• Barriers to bicycling. Education and
encouragement programs must be targeted
to address Culturally specific barriers. To
broaden access to bicyclings we must tailor
education and encouragement programs, as
well as engineering and infrastructure
solutions, to address the needs of specific
communities and cultures. By doing so, we
make bicycling safer and more convenient
for everyone.
• Safety concerns. In larger cities like
But even though evidence shows we're
m aking progress when It comes to
transforming streets and changing behaviors,
doesn't mean It's getting easier. I t wasn't easy
when It happened In Europe, either.
New York and Chicago, the experience of
riding a bike in traffic is still too harrowing
for many people. Law enforcement has not
been as effective when it comes to
protecting access to the bike lane, ticketing
lawbreakers, or punishing those who kill or
seriously injure vulnerable users.
Those parts of our culture that make us
different from Europe may present some of
the biggest challenges, but they also lead to
some of the most creative solutions. By
ensuring that diverse voices aré at the table
early and throughout the decision making
process, by listening to the concerns of
neighborhoods, business associations and
individuals, we can move together toward
the future of vibrant, healthy com m unities;
Portland isn’t going to be the next
Copenhagen. It’s just going to be the next
Portland.
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